THE SORE POINT

College Presidents may indulge in occasional pleasantries about "synthetic freshmen", but never about "synthetic alumni". The alumnus is no subject for joking. At graduation he begins his long reign of tyranny over the college authorities who for four years lorded it over him. Henceforth, in spite of his continuous comments, suggestions, and criticisms, he is a deity to be propitiated, for it is to him the college must turn when in financial straits.

The New York Times editorial, quoted in an adjacent column, says the graduate's emotions are responsible for his tyranny over dear old Alma Mater. This is especially true in athletics. If the football team wins a series of victories, the "old grad" is profuse with congratulations. If it meets defeat, every alumnus has his own pet theory of just why it happened. The coaches are to blame, or the team lacks fight, or the stands didn't give proper support. Whatever his theory, the graduate never falls to tell how much better it was done "in the good old days."

To an undergraduate defeat is a serious matter. To the graduate, it is the grimmest of tragedy. The undergraduate has ample company in his misery. Everyone he meets commiserates the general misfortune, and his spirits are bound to rise in response to such universal sympathy. Not so the graduate. At the club, in the office, on the street, friend Smith from Yale, and Jones from Princeton and even Brown from some small Western college, triumph over him. They tease him, they heap ridicule upon him, and all in all, make his life miserable. Small wonder that his ago takes refuge in complaint against the innocent cause of his humiliation!